Posted on April 23, 2025May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips Jim Norris’ Lattice Bracing Jim Norris’ Lattice Bracing by Brent Benfield Originally published in American Lutherie #89, 2007 The last time I saw my friend Jim Norris was on March 4, 2000. He had called to tell me to come get some more of his wood if I wanted, because the doctors had told him that his cancer was definitely terminal. I got more than I could afford that day, so he told me to send the remainder when I could. When I sent a letter soon after that, Mary called to say that Jim had passed away two weeks after I’d been there. Mary and I talked a while. She told me a great story that I think is appropriate to share. Jim was a longtime friend of the classical guitarist John Williams. Soon after John Williams began using a Smallman guitar, Jim and Mary attended a concert, and afterward they all went out to eat. Jim asked John about the new guitar. John hauled this high-dollar instrument out of the case and handed it to Jim. He began telling all about it, how it had a very thin top reinforced with this space-age fiber... he thought it was Kevlar. Well, John called up a few weeks later saying he’d been wrong. It wasn’t Kevlar, but carbon fiber. In the meantime, Jim had found and bought several spools of Kevlar. Mary said he joked that if anyone wanted to build a bulletproof guitar, he knew where they could buy some Kevlar. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on June 30, 2024May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips Aluminum Sonatas: A Brief History of Aluminum Stringed Instruments in the Last 120 Years Aluminum Sonatas: A Brief History of Aluminum Stringed Instruments in the Last 120 Years by James Condino Originally published in American Lutherie #89, 2007 Over the last two decades I have had the fortunate circumstances to be able to spend my winters in the shop building instruments and my summers outside playing in some of the world’s great rivers and mountain ranges. In preparation for my second 300-mile river trip through the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River, we made plans to include a five-piece band. I searched for a 3/4-sized standup bass that would resonate through the halls of Redwall Cavern and yet withstand the carnage of Lava Falls and the river’s other huge rapids. After a lot of searching, I discovered that during the early part of the 20th century, several different manufacturers found fame in pursuit of making incredible string instruments of aluminum, and then faded into obscurity. The Paris world trade show of 1855 unveiled the first public display of a pure aluminum ingot. Within a decade the means to cheaply extract the pure metal by electricity had resulted in wide availability of aluminum and generated great interest in its potential uses. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 3 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on June 6, 2024May 29, 2025 by Dale Phillips Letter: About Tusq Letter: About Tusq by Roger Sadowsky Originally published in American Lutherie #71, 2002 Dear Tim, In regard to Fred Carlson’s review of Tusq in AL#70, I have recently become a fan of Tusq saddles for under-saddle pickups. I’ve always struggled for good string-to-string balance and have tried every material and every trick in the book. I even published an article in another guitar publication about the fine art of achieving string balance with under saddle pickups. Building my Electric Nylon Guitar gives me an opportunity to evaluate materials under relatively controlled conditions. In the last twelve years I’ve built over 300. For years the best material I used was Micarta, but I frequently had to make three or four saddles per guitar to find the one that had the best string balance. Recently I tried Tusq and had perfect string balance on the first try. I have used it now for about six months and in every situation, I have had perfect string balance with the first saddle I made. For other applications I can appreciate the benefits of bone and ivory. But when it comes to string balance with an under saddle pickup, nothing is better than Tusq. ◆
Posted on April 21, 2023May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: Henry Stocek Meet the Maker: Henry Stocek by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #62, 2000 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2013 There is a host of nonluthiers without whom lutherie would suffer. I refer to the makers and suppliers of the products that eventually comprise our instruments — the wood, trim items, pickups, cases, hardware, and finish products that make instruments more functional and more interesting. It should come as no surprise that most of these folks are as fascinating and dedicated as any luthier. We’ve met a few of them in these pages before, and I hope to give more of them the exposure they deserve. First up is Henry Stocek, the celluloid guru who introduced us to the art of turtleoid creation (see Reinventing the Celluloid Tortoise). He created Deep River Vintage Instrument Supply to furnish the trade with imitation tortoiseshell pickguard stock that was reminiscent of the color and patterns used in the ’30s. Other items are on the way. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on March 4, 2022May 29, 2025 by Dale Phillips Wet Inlay Wet Inlay by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #66, 2001 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2013 In my infancy as a luthier I didn’t have a lot of skills, but I still wanted my instruments to be different from any others. And I wanted them to be fancy. That might have been a combination headed for disaster, but I discovered a few tricks that let me achieve my goals while I simultaneously learned to build instruments worth owning and playing. One of those tricks was wet inlay. I loved the look of guitars draped in abalone trim, but I was sure the work was beyond me. Shell was also way too expensive for a project that might be botched and tossed in the dumpster. Tonewood was nearly out of my reach; there was no way I could invest in cut shell, too. The road to settling on turquoise trim was roundabout. I went to college in Colorado, where silver-and-turquoise Indian jewelry was everywhere. Most American turquoise is mined in Arizona, and the surrounding states have a strong turquoise culture. From a jewelry-making class, I learned that the blue stone is pretty hard, requiring lapidary equipment to cut and polish it. And not only is the good stuff fairly expensive, it’s pretty boring. Quality turquoise is a one-dimensional shade of blue with no grain or color intrusions. Eventually I realized that the jewelry I admired the most was the cheap stuff, chips of turquoise mixed in a clear matrix of some sort, ground flat, and polished. I was pretty sure I could do that to instruments. I could see into a future when turquoise-trimmed instruments would be my famous trademark. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
